


Whisperes in the Dark

by PrincessPorcelain



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: AU, Caring Stiles, Eichen | Echo House, F/M, Gen, Hurt Lydia, Other, Slow Burn Lydia Martin/Stiles Stilinski, Triggers, Underage Sex, eichen house is a horrible place tbh, some violence, the pack don't know that Lydia's a banshee
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-03
Updated: 2015-07-11
Packaged: 2018-04-02 17:45:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4068874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessPorcelain/pseuds/PrincessPorcelain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I swear Lyds I’ll make it up to you. I’ll get you out of here”<br/>“Don’t say that” Lydia replied<br/>“Why not?” He frowned<br/>“You shouldn’t make promises that you can’t keep”</p>
<p>With the pack not figuring out that Lydia's a banshee the voices she hears, her ear splitting screams and the fugue states add up to a different conclusion. After accidently overdosing Lydia ends up in Eichen House.<br/>Set at where season 2 finishes off and continues through 3b+ (3a is kind of non-existant)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger warning- there are mentions of suicide, self-harm, mental illness and medical restraint in this so please be careful! Also please note that as far as I'm aware modern facilities are nothing like Eichen House and I just decided to follow the way the show portrayed it; this was not meant to offend anyone!

Lydia lay in her bed desperately trying to sleep. She looked at her phone; it was 3am. She’d gone to bed at 11pm that night and she hadn’t slept at all. She couldn’t sleep; the noise was overwhelmingly loud now, the whispering was just irritating when it’d woke her up at 5am the night before but now it’d evolved to endless screaming making her head feel like it was on fire.

Out of desperation Lydia got out of her bed, grabbed the pack of aspirin on her desk and pulled out a bottle of vodka she’d hidden underneath her bed. She poured some pills into her hand and washed them down with the vodka. Hopefully it’d knock her out and she’d get some peace!

For a while it didn’t work. Nothing worked. So she’d take a couple more pills, a few more swigs of alcohol and try again. After drinking the whole bottle and leaving less than a handful of pills she fell asleep.

Waking up vomiting sobered Lydia up quite effectively. She staggered up to clean it when she realised there was blood in the mixture that her body had ejected. “Fuck” She whispered to herself before the room started spinning and everything went dark.

* * *

 When Lydia awoke she realised immediately that something was wrong. There were tubes in her arms, a constant beeping noise and the strong smell of disinfectant. She was in hospital, she realised. Her head was pounding but Lydia couldn’t really remember what happened. She looked around the room and noticed her mom was sitting in a chair next to her dozing.

“Mom?”

Natalie Martin opened her eyes “Lydia” She smiled sadly “You’re awake”

“What happened?” Lydia asked

“You don’t remember?” Lydia shook her head “You um, well… Lyds you tried to kill yourself” Her mother replied, tears spilling from her eyes.

Lydia frowned confused and then she remembered. The pills and the alcohol; she must’ve taken too much. “I didn’t try to kill myself mom, I just had a headache”

“A headache so bad you drunk a whole bottle of vodka and took a bottle of pills?” Natalie said her voice wavering

“It wasn’t like that…”

“I knew something was going on. I knew something was wrong but I just brushed it aside, I didn’t want to see it. You haven’t been yourself for months Lydia, I don’t know what’s happening; you’ve been distracted, acting strange, drinking, falling asleep in class, talking to things that aren’t there when you think no one’s listening, disappearing for days at a time, screaming, your bodies’ covered with cuts and bruises…”

“Mom there’s nothing wrong with me!”

Natalie sighed “Lydia you nearly died, I nearly lost you, you’ve been unconscious for two weeks! I’m not going to be blind to what’s happening anymore, I’m going to get you help okay”

“What are you talking about?” Lydia asked slowly

“Once you’re strong enough we’ve decided that it’ll be best if you’re treated in a facility for a while”

“What! Mom, I’m fine, this isn’t what it looks like, I had a headache; nothing’s wrong! And who’s we?”

“Your father, the hospital staff, specialists and myself. Lydia I can’t give you the help you need” Miss Martin sobbed

“I don’t need help!” Lydia yelled “Mom please don’t send me away, please!”

“I have no choice”

* * *

 Two weeks later Lydia was well enough to leave the hospital. Well, the general hospital. Against her protests she was transported by ambulance to Eichen House. As the ambulance pulled up fear rushed through Lydia’s body. Her mom squeezed her hand but she responded by harshly glaring at her.

“Lydia, I’m sorry” Natalie said softly “One day you’ll realize that this is for the best”

“That’s bullshit and you know it, there’s nothing wrong with me” She spat Miss Martin shook her head sadly and looked down.

“It’s time to go inside Lydia” The nurse who’d escorted them in the ambulance said

Lydia looked out and saw two orderlies heading towards them and her anger to her mother turned to desperation.“Mom, mom please, I’ll do whatever you want, I’ll do anything I promise, please just don’t let this happen!”

“Get out of the vehicle please Miss Martin” One of the orderlies instructed

“No, I’m not going anywhere with you” She glared “If you refuse to cooperate we will physically force you inside” The other one replied “You can’t touch me, I have rights”

“You’re under 18 and your caregivers and doctors have decided you need to be here. You have no choice”

Lydia turned back to her mom pleadingly “Mom, you have to believe me I wasn’t trying to kill myself, please let me come home and explain, I’ll see Ms Morrell again at school if that’s what you want, don’t leave me here!”

“I’m sorry Lyds, it’s going to be okay” Her mom whispered

Lydia saw that her mom wasn’t going to give in. That was something she’d inherited from her, they could both be stubborn as a bull once their minds were made up. One of the orderlies put his hand on her to escort Lydia out of the ambulance. “Don’t touch me” She snapped. There was nothing she could do for now Lydia realised. She stepped out and followed the orderlies inside. It’d be 48 hours tops, once they realised there was nothing wrong with her they’d have to release her.

“48 hours tops” She internally repeated “48 hours”

* * *

 “Hey Allison” Stiles ran up to catch up to her in the corridor at school. It was the first time that day he hadn’t been with Scott and he knew that talking to her with Scott would be awkward to say the least. Scott and Allison weren’t on the best terms since what’d happened to her mom. Honestly she’d blamed Scott, as time passed she realised that it wasn’t really his fault but they could still barely be in a room together without arguing. Because of this there had been a divide between Scott and Stiles and Allison and Lydia. Stiles hadn’t really spoken to either of the girls for a while but he was worried. “Have you heard from Lydia? She hasn’t been in school for weeks”

Allison smirked sadly “You’re still totally into her aren’t you”

“What… no I’m just worried…” Stiles blushed “Okay fine, I’m still into her but I just want to know if she’s okay”

“I’m not really supposed to tell anyone but I guess it’ll be common knowledge soon” Allison sighed “Lydia is in Eichen House”

“You’re joking!”

“She overdosed, they weren’t sure she was going to make it. I guess all that stuff with Peter affected her more than we thought it did”

“Shit” Stiles muttered

“Thinking about it weird stuff did seem to be happening with her again but she said she was fine, she was normal Lydia so I didn’t think much of it. She was struggling right in front of my eyes and I was too caught up in boy drama to see it. And now she’s been institutionalised… I’ve been such an awful friend”

“Hey this isn’t your fault; you had your own problems to deal with. I’m the one who cut the pair of you off because the stuff with Scott was awkward”

“It sounds weird but I’ve missed you and Scott loads. No matter what happened we were all so close last year” Allison sighed

“I missed you and Lydia too and I’m sure Scott has as well. Maybe if you two are both ready it might be a good time to talk”

“Maybe” Allison said slowly “I’ll talk to you tomorrow okay, I’m going to visit Lydia tonight”

“You are? Can you tell her… just say I said hi” Stiles trailed off

Allison smiled softly “I will”

* * *

 Allison got chills as she walked into Eichen House. It made her feel sick that her best friend was in here; it seemed more like a prison than a hospital. She signed in and an orderly escorted her to Lydia’s room then proceeded to unlock the door.

“You have half an hour maximum” The staff member addressed Allison “If we believe that the patient is becoming upset or agitated during the visit you will be asked to leave”

Allison nodded and the orderly let her in, locking the door behind her. Lydia was sitting on the bed reading; she looked up as her friend walked in.

“Thank God you’re here, I’m literally about to die from boredom” Lydia rolled her eyes

Allison smirked; same old Lydia. She sat next to her friend on the bed. “How are you feeling?” She asked gently

“Bored. And pissed off. I don’t get why they won’t let me leave, I’ve been here for a week and there’s clearly nothing wrong with me. They think I’m in denial because I won’t say I tried to kill myself. Which I didn’t by the way”

“Then what the hell were you doing Lydia!”

“I had a headache”

Allison sighed “You don’t take a bottle of pills and alcohol because you have a headache”

“It was a bad one” Lydia shrugged. Allison looked at her with disbelief and Lydia sighed “Look I wasn’t trying to kill myself, normal doses of painkillers don’t work anymore and they would not shut up okay”

“Lydia? What wouldn’t shut up?”

“The voices” Lydia looked at Allison’s facial expressions turn from confusion to horror “Now you get why I can’t explain what happened?”

“Holy shit Lydia, you need to tell them about this”

Lydia rolled her eyes “Well I can’t because they’ll think I’m crazy and I’ll never get out of here” She snapped “I’m not running around stabbing people, cutting myself, rocking in a corner or whatever. Ever since stuff with Peter happened weird stuff has been going on but I’m not crazy. It’s probably side effects of being immune to the werewolf bite or whatever. And I can’t tell them that can I, I’m not stupid”

Allison rested her head in her hands trying to take it all in “Lydia this doesn’t make sense. The point of being immune means that the bite doesn’t affect you. You’re not changing into anything, you’re not getting special powers, and from what we know what’s happening to you doesn’t fit at all. I know that what you went through because of Peter was awful but have you ever stopped to think that it could’ve hurt you psychologically too? I mean your grandmother was schizophrenic wasn’t she, this doesn’t feel like a coincidence to me”

“Fuck you” Lydia glared “You know nothing about what went on, you spent all your time running around after Scott and you’ve been pining after him since you two broke up, you have no idea what’s going on with me, it’s my head, my body and I know that I’m not fucking crazy!”

Allison’s eyes filled with tears “I know I’ve been a terrible friend and I’m sorry but I care about you Lyds, I’m just trying to help, maybe if people know what’s going on they’ll be able to treat you better and you’ll get to go home sooner”

“I don’t need treatment because there’s nothing wrong with me! What I need is for everyone to leave me alone!” Lydia yelled angrily, hot tears spilling from her eyes. She heard the door being unlocked and sighed with frustration “Fuck this shit”

“Miss Argent, I’m going to need you to leave now” The orderly who’d brought her in instructed

Allison quickly turned back to Lydia “Lydia I’m sorry…”

“Just go away!”

Allison got up and started to exit the room so the orderly turned his attention to Lydia “Miss Martin you need to calm down”

All the pent up frustration and anger that had build up that week finally flooded through Lydia, forcing her to let it out “Fuck this, fuck all of you! I want to go home!”

The orderly got out his walkie-talkie and spoke into it “I’ve got a situation in the adolescent females unit. Room 82, thanks” He then glared at Allison “Why have you not left yet? Miss Martin you need to calm down right now” He said walking over to Lydia

Lydia jumped off of the bed defensively “Don’t touch me” She spat but the orderly kept coming towards her until she felt the wall behind her. Lydia panicked and without thinking she punched him and ran. She didn’t make it to the door before the back-up arrived and pinned her to the ground.”Get off me” She screamed but they just held her tighter.

“Someone get the visitor out” One of them ordered “I need 5mls of Hadol”

“No!” Lydia screamed but she already knew she was defeated. Within seconds the needle was plunged into her left buttock and her screams quickly turned to drowsy whimpers.

Now that Lydia was dealt with one of the orderlies roughly grabbed Allison, who’d been watching the scene horrified, and escorted her out.

What had happened had only convinced Allison more that Lydia needed help.“Will I be able to see her again?” She asked the staff member

“I doubt Miss Martin will be allowed visitors again anytime soon after that performance” He said and then softened seeing Allison’s face “Don’t worry, we’re doing everything we can to help your friend, we’ve had excellent results on even the most challenging of patients”

Allison nodded and took a deep breath internally apologizing to her friend for what she was about to do “Can I speak to her doctor? Lydia told me something that I think you should know”


	2. Chapter 2

The problem of being in Eichen House was that patients were constantly monitored. This meant that Lydia couldn’t hide anything; staff saw everything that was happening to her and jumped to conclusions pretty quickly. There were parts that she could control; nobody could actually read her mind so they couldn’t know about the voices. However the fugue states and the screaming were out of her control. And since Allison told staff Lydia was hearing things the staff were convinced.

It took only a week after Allison’s visit for Lydia to be diagnosed with schizophrenia; just like her grandmother.

* * *

  _5 months later_

Stiles and his father pulled up outside Eichen House. Since he’d found out he was the nogitsune Stiles was scared of what he might do, he was scared that people were going to get hurt because of him. If Scott wasn’t a werewolf he would already be dead from when the nogitsune last took control. So here they were, Eichen House.

After the formalities Stiles sadly said goodbye to his father and a nurse escorted him upstairs. As he reached the top of the first flight of stairs he saw a petite girl with striking red hair walking down the hallway and instantly realised it was Lydia. Their eyes made contact for a moment before Lydia suddenly slammed her hands over her ears. A look of pure fear had consumed her face and before he could ask if she was okay she screamed with all the power in her body.

A pair of orderlies rushed over and tackled Lydia to the ground and the nurse grabbed hold of Stiles and forced him up the next flight of stairs. He may not be able to see what was going on but Stiles could still hear Lydia screaming uncontrollably.

 _“Hurry up with the Hadol”_ He heard one staff member say and about 1 minute later _“What the hell, why isn’t it working? Did you get the right dose?”_

Stiles sighed and looked up. He frowned as he saw a man tying what appeared to be bed sheets together. “Do you see that?” He said to the nurse and started to race up the stairs

“Stiles wait for me!” The nurse ordered but he ignored her

“That guy up there… Hey! Hey stop it!” He yelled running faster

The man stepped onto the banisters

“No! Somebody stop him!”

The man jumped. The moment he stopped kicking, insinuating he was dead, Lydia’s screams abruptly stopped.

 _“That’s weird”_ Stiles thought _“How did she know?”_

Maybe she didn’t, maybe the sedatives had just taken hold but it left Stiles feeling uneasy.

* * *

 Stiles’ roommate Oliver showed him around the next morning. As they entered the day room he spotted Lydia sitting on a couch watching TV. It was only then Stiles realised how bad she looked, she was pale and her eyes were red but her whole demeanour was different. She looked a lot smaller than Stiles remembered and she was curled up hugging her knees. Without all the makeup and fancy clothes she looked much younger too. Just looking at her, the feeling that Stiles got was that she looked defeated.

He left Oliver chatting to another guy and walked over sitting down next to Lydia. “Hey” He smiled softly

Lydia looked over to him “Hi Stiles” She sounded tired, Stiles noticed “Eventful first night you had”

“Tell me about it” He sighed

A tinge of sadness appeared in her eyes “I… I’m sorry you had to see me like that. I didn’t want… I couldn’t control it” Lydia said breaking eye contact

Of all the years of knowing Lydia, Stiles didn’t think he’d heard her ever apologise before , for anything. “It’s okay” He replied slowly “It wasn’t your fault. Are you okay though? They didn’t hurt you or anything?”

Lydia smirked slightly “It wasn’t something that I’m not used too. So how come you’re here? Did your dad force you in?”

“It’s complicated. It wasn’t my dad though; it was my idea to come here”

She raised her eyebrows in disbelief “You came here by your own free will?”

Stiles nodded

“Wow, okay maybe you are mental”

Stiles smirked and looked down. He frowned as he saw a familiar place through glass filled holes in the floor “Hey, what’s down there?”

“The basement” Lydia replied “But no one’s been down there for years”

“I have” Stiles said inaudibly.

* * *

 Later that day the adolescents in the facility had a group therapy session. Stiles immediately recognised Beacon Hills’ school counsellor, aka druid, aka confusing witchy person, Ms Morrell.

“Does she work here?” Stiles whispered to Lydia

“Unfortunately” Lydia replied as they took their seats in the group

“Good morning everyone” The psychiatrist spoke “Before we get onto anything else I feel like it’s important to address the incident that happened last night. Not everyone was there, not everyone saw it but we all know what happened. I want to know how you are all feeling, things like these can trigger things in people but I want you to know that whatever circumstance you’re in things always get better. Would anyone like to say anything about it, what it made you feel? How about you Stiles, you were there weren’t you?”

“Um, yeah. It was sad I guess, it was horrible to see. It gave me second thoughts about being here for sure”

Ms Morrell nodded “Did it make you feel unsafe”

“I never feel safe” Stiles stated

The group continued discussing the suicide until Ms Morrell turned her attention to Lydia who noticeably hadn’t participated in the discussion. “Lydia? Did last night bring up any bad feelings or memories for you?”

“Nope” Lydia replied bluntly

“She probably drove him to it” A blonde girl piped up “She was screaming her head off last night”

“Yeah well at least I don’t spend every night crying out that I want to go home” Lydia snapped back

The girl scowled “Well at least I didn’t cut my wrist open and nearly bleed out all over the bathroom floor not too long ago”

“You’re a bitch for bringing that up. I know it was stupid”Lydia scowled

“Lydia?” Ms Morrell said gently “You think that harming yourself that day was stupid?”

“I think that trying to slit my wrists was stupid” Lydia snapped “If it happened again I’d jab the slice of mirror right into my throat that should be more successful. Not that I’ll ever have a chance like that again” She stood up and hastily walked out of the room, pushing her chair down on the way.

Stiles moved as if to follow her but Ms Morrell gently shook her head at him and he remained in his seat for the rest of the session. Once the group finished the psychiatrist motioned for Stiles to follow her.

As they got into a private room she handed Stiles a bottle of pills. “What are these sleeping pills?”

“Amphetamines, sleeping is exactly what you don’t want to do. You’re vulnerable when you’re asleep”

“So all I have to do is stay awake?” Stiles asked

“For now. If your friends haven’t figured something out by the time the nogitsune takes hold of you again I’ll come find you.”

“To tell me what to do?”

“No, I’m going to give you an injection. Pancuronium bromide, it causes respiratory paralysis”

“That sounds a lot like death…”

“It’s used for lethal injection, yes”

“So when the nogitsune takes over you’re going to kill me”

“I’m going to do what I’ve always done; maintain the balance”

* * *

 “Hey!” Stiles caught up with Lydia at lunch and sat down across from her.

They sat in silence for a few moments until Lydia looked up at him and raised her eyebrows “Aren’t you going to ask then?”

“About what?” Stiles asked unconvincingly

“I didn’t want you to know” She sighed “it makes me seem… weak. What that girl said was true. Someone punched a mirror about a month ago; I stole a shard before any staff arrived. Later I cut my wrist with it”

“You really wanted to kill yourself” Stiles asked gently

“I don’t want to die Stiles. I’d just rather be dead than be here. I’ve been sedated or been restrained or sent to the quiet room more times than I can count and I’ve even been to the closed ward a few times. It doesn’t look like they’re going to let me out anytime soon, according to them I’ve made no progress and I’ve been here nearly 6 months. They’re considering making me a long term residential patient. I cannot be here anymore; if anything’s driving me to insanity it’s this place.” Lydia said, her voice wobbling as she spoke

“Lydia… I… I’m sorry”

“I don’t want your pity Stiles” She sighed “I owed you an explanation and now you have it. So can we move on from this?”

Stiles nodded “So the food here seems alright”

Lydia rolled her eyes sarcastically in response.

* * *

 Stiles knew he had to get down to the basement; it had to mean something that he dreamt he was there. He knew his friends were doing everything they could but he had to do something before the nogitsune possessed him again. But the only way to get into the basement is with keys.

He soon came up with a plan, it was risky but it could work. Stiles carefully followed one of the orderlies with all of the keys, Brunski he thought he was called, to his office. The next stage was to create a diversion. Stiles would’ve asked Lydia but he didn’t want to get her into any trouble. So he asked, well bribed with a candy bar he’d snuck in, his roommate Oliver. He spotted Oliver around the corner and gave him a nod and then hid behind a post so Brunski wouldn’t see him.

As soon as Stiles was hidden Oliver started yelling manically. Brunski immediately raced out of the office and, as they hoped, he left his keys behind. Stiles quickly slipped into the office, grabbed the keys and then raced out. He navigated his way through a few corridors and eventually reached the door leading to the basement.

Stiles fumbled around with the keys trying to find the right one. “This guy has a key for everything” he grumbled when he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. He immediately froze.

“I do” Brunski smirked and snatched away the keys “But nobody has the key to that room” He took hold of Stiles and pushed him away, leading him to another part of the building.

* * *

 “Into the quiet room little man” Brunski said opening the door to an empty, white, tiled room. “Give him 5 of Hadol” He instructed to the two other orderlies that had taken hold of Stiles.

“What is that… wait what is that? Is that a sedative? Okay hang on, hang on I can’t go to sleep okay, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, look, get off!” Stiles struggled until one of the orderlies plunged a needle into his backside and then left him on the floor. “No I can’t… I can’t go to sleep, you don’t understand” Stiles felt the medication working as he became drowsy “You don’t get it, I’ve got to stay awake, I’ve got to stay awake”

The last thing Stiles saw before losing consciousness was Brunski laughing at him cruelly before closing the door.

* * *

 Word passes around quite quickly in Eichen House, as there was little else interesting to talk about, so Lydia soon heard people discussing the new kid who’d already been sent to the quite room. Lydia immediately guessed it was Stiles and quickly snuck off, hoping no one would miss her.

She knew the way to the quiet room quite well by now so Lydia had no problem getting there. She could hear Stiles mumbling and thrashing around from outside. Lydia quickly got the hairpin she’d hidden out from her sock and picked the lock opening the door.

She ran over and knelt down next to Stiles. Lydia shook him, trying to wake him up, when Stiles started yelling.

“Shh. Stiles, it’s okay. Stiles shut up!”

Eventually Stiles opened his eyes “Lydia? How did you get in here?”

“I picked the lock. I’ve become quite good at it since being here. Come on let’s get you out of here, if Brunski asks just tell him an orderly that you didn’t know let you out”

“Wait” Stiles replied “Did you say you can pick locks”

“Yes Stiles, keep up” Lydia said helping him up

“There’s a room I need to get into”

“What room?”

“The basement”

Lydia sighed “Stiles, why the hell do you want to get into the basement?”

“It’s complicated. It’s sort of has to do with the werewolf thing”

“Please tell me you’re not here on some weird mission”

“No. The opportunity for answers just arose”

“Fine” Lydia sighed “But you owe me”

“Thank you thank you thank you” Stiles said “I swear Lyds I’ll make it up to you. I’ll get you out of here”

“Don’t say that” Lydia replied

“Why not?” He frowned

“You shouldn’t make promises that you can’t keep”


	3. Chapter 3

“Stiles, you’re supposed to be keeping a look out, can you stop hovering, you’re making me nervous” Lydia said whilst picking the lock to the basement

“Sorry” Stiles said quickly and turned around

“It doesn’t matter, I’ve got it now, hurry up” Lydia replied hurriedly

The pair quickly went through the door, quietly closing it behind them and then they walked down the narrow staircase to get to the open basement room.

“So what are we looking for?”

“I don’t know” He replied

“Stiles!” Lydia exclaimed “If we get caught Brunski is going to skin both of us! Do you realise how much trouble this could get us in!”

“Since when did you care about getting in trouble?”

“Since I got locked in this place where there’s no escaping anything Stiles!”

“Don’t worry” Stiles said his voice softening “We’re not going to get caught”

“I hope for your sake you’re right, otherwise Brunski won’t be the only one you have to worry about”

Stiles smiled. That was the first time he’d seen the fire in Lydia again since coming to Eichen House. Allison hadn’t been able to visit Lydia much because of visitor privileges lost but he knew that every time Allison had seen Lydia she became more and more worried that the Lydia she knew was gone. But for the first time, with just Stiles and Lydia down there, things seemed almost normal.

He looked up and saw a familiar symbol engraved into one of the walls. “Something has to be down here, otherwise that wouldn’t be here”

“What is that?” Lydia asked seeing the backwards 5

“It’s a symbol, it means ‘self’” “What is going on Stiles?”

“You might not like me if I tell you anything more”

Lydia rolled her eyes “Stiles I’ve been here for 6 months and if anything I’ve learnt not to be so judgemental of people. And I know you Stiles, and I like you. Nothing you could tell me would make me see you differently okay, I promise”

Stiles smiled sadly “You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep”

* * *

 Stiles and Lydia had been looking through boxes in the basement for around half an hour before Stiles sighed “There’s nothing here”

Lydia looked up at him “We’ll find something okay. Let’s take a break and after we might see something we’ve missed”

“No, they’re going to realise we’re missing soon”

“That doesn’t matter anymore” Lydia said softly

“What, why?”

“Because seeing as this is about something supernatural and they way you were searching, I’m guessing this is probably a life or death situation. I’m screwed in here anyway so it doesn’t matter if I get in trouble if it helps you” She replied and sat down on an old couch that’d been left Stiles got up and sat down next to her

“Thank you” He gently placed his hand on hers. Lydia flinched slightly and Stiles quickly pulled his hand away.

“Sorry. I haven’t been touched with any sort of kindness for months” Lydia reached to take his hand back but Stiles gently pulled her into a hug instead. Lydia allowed his arms to wrap around her and she held onto him. For some reason she felt a lot safer in Stiles’ arms. Eventually the pair let go of each other and drew back.

As they started to move away from each other their eyes met. It was like a magnetic force was pulling them as they gently crashed into each other, their mouths finally making contact as they held each other and kissed passionately.

Stiles pulled away for a second “Is… is this okay?”

Lydia just nodded and pushed him down so that she was lying on top of him. They continued kissing until Lydia paused to pull his top off and vice versa. She slowly kissed down his chest, sliding her hands down Stiles’ pants. Stiles tipped his head back and enjoyed that part for a couple of minutes before pulling her back up and turning so that he was on top. He kissed her neck and gently clutched her boobs as she softly moaned. He looked down at her “You sure you want to do this?”

“I’ve never been more sure Stiles” She whispered Stiles smiled softly and unzipped his pants.

* * *

 About an hour later Lydia lay asleep in Stiles’ arms. He stared at her sleeping and wondered how this had ever happened. How did he, Stiles Stilinski, end up sleeping with the girl who he’d had a crush on since third grade but was completely out of his league being the most beautiful, popular and smartest girl in Beacon Hills.

If he was going to die then at least he had had those few hours with Lydia Martin. Stiles looked sadly over at the symbol carved into the wall and frowned. He shifted himself slightly causing Lydia to awake. She looked up at him and moved so that he could stand up. Lydia followed him as he walked over to the wall and knocked on it.

“It’s hollow”

Stiles grabbed a metal pole that was lying around and smashed through the wall. Once the hole was large enough the pair peered in.

“What is that?” Lydia asked

“This is him” Stiles replied looking at the bandaged body “The nogitsune”

“Stiles, when you’ve sorted out whatever the hell this is you have a lot of explaining to do” Lydia said realising it wasn’t the time to bombard him with questions. Out of a hunch she reached inside the body’s pocket “Does this help?” She asked pulling out a piece of old paper

Stiles took it and stood up “I’ve got to get this to Scott” Suddenly he felt a searing pain rush through him and fell to the ground

“You took Brunski’s keys.” Oliver said as Stiles quivered on the ground “I took his stun gun” and then he shot Lydia with it and slowly lent down next to her on the floor “And his Hadol” he plunged the needle into her leg and within seconds Lydia was out of it.

Stiles looked up at Oliver horrified “Like I was saying Stiles, I heard they used to do trepidation here” He said picking up an electric drill

“Oliver what are you doing?!”

“I’m going to let all the evil spirits out”

* * *

 Stiles awoke in a daze, unsure of what was happening. Oliver’s face slowly came into focus.

“I borrowed a few pointers from the five point restraint”

Stiles looked down realising that his wrists were restrained to a chair he was in. He pulled against them, trying to release himself, but they’d been done tightly. He realised he was stuck and looked up at his roommate “Oliver, stop this!”

Oliver coughed and up came a dead firefly alongside blood.

“Oliver listen to me, stop” Stiles said trying to stay calm “Oliver…” The drill started and Oliver moved it towards Stiles “Oliver stop!”

_“Start with her”_

As if in a trance Oliver backed away from Stiles and the nogitsune came into Stiles’ view “You did this” He whispered “You got into his head”

_“Every Dracula needs a Renfield”_

Stiles tore his eyes from the nogitsune and saw Oliver strapping Lydia, who was unconscious, to a chair. “Just let her go!”

_“Let me in”_

Stiles fought against the restraints with all the power he could muster but he knew that he couldn’t break free.

_“Stiles, do you want her to leave here alive? Do you want us to leave? We can walk out of this place”_

“Just let her go, please” Stiles pleaded, tears streaming down his face

_“Let me in!”_

“Arghh” Stiles yelled trying to free himself

_“Let me in Stiles. Let. Me. In.”_

“Just let her go please!” He yelled as Oliver started the drill

_“Let me in Stiles! Let me in! You let me in, I’ll let her live. Let. Me. In.”_

Stiles stopped fighting. His body relaxed as he let the nogitsune take control. Soon all that remained of Stiles’ fear were the tears left staining his face.

“Oliver” He said as he broke free and stood up. Oliver stopped the drill. The nogitsune within Stiles’ body walked over and stared at Oliver for a second before snatching the drill and hitting the boy in the head with it. He walked over to where Lydia was and released her.

The nogitsune picked up the girl and escaped the building with her to the tunnels of Oak Creek Camp.

* * *

Lydia woke up confused. The first thing that hit her was the noise. The voices were so loud, it was like they were piercing through her skull, tearing into her brain, leaving her in agony. She sat up clutching her head and looked around; she seemed to be in some sort of tunnels. Lydia didn’t remember leaving Eichen House, maybe she was in some secret tunnels there? It didn’t make sense.

She tried to push the noise out of her head for few seconds to try and remember but the noise was so overwhelming, it was like she couldn’t even think. Lydia closed her eyes and held her breath trying to connect to reality. Finally the memories started to form in her head.

They’d been in the basement; Stiles and herself, they found some weird bandaged body which somehow helped Stiles. He’d called it a nogitsune. And then Stiles’ roommate had found them and used a stun gun on them and sedated Lydia. She woke up here.

 _“What the fuck is going on?”_ Lydia thought to herself, becoming annoyed that she hadn’t pushed Stiles to tell her what was happening. No one ever told her anything anyway, what did she expect?

Lydia opened her eyes again with the new information but she still had no idea where she was. And since she’d snapped out of her mind zone the voices had become unbearable again. She held her head in her hands, for once she wished she was at Eichen House so they could sedate her and she wouldn’t have to endure this.

“They’re louder than usual aren’t they?” A familiar voice spoke tauntingly

“Stiles?” Lydia frowned looking over and seeing the silhouette of the boy moving towards her

“It’s this place. A lot of bad things have happened here”

“Stiles, what the hell is going on?”

“I’m afraid you’re not talking to Stiles anymore Lydia” The voice sneered Lydia stood up

“If this is some sick joke I swear to God Stilinski”

“I’m not Stiles!”

“Then… then who are you?”

“I am the nogitsune” Lydia looked at the body advancing towards her. There were two ways that this could make sense. Stiles had said what was happening to him was something supernatural, he seemed to think it would change the way Lydia thought of him and he’d said the nogitsune was that body they’d discovered in the basement. So what if whatever had been if that body was now inside Stiles.

The other option that Stiles had literally gone insane and was having personality shifts, dissociations and was strongly delusional. Neither option sounded particularly good to Lydia so she backed away from the boy coming towards her and looked for some way out. Where ever she was it was dark so she was glad that there were pipes on the walls to help guide herself. But Stiles was still advancing towards her.

“What are the voices telling you? Are they saying that Stiles is dying? He is you know. He’s dying”

“What do you want from me?!” Lydia yelled as she turned a corner and ran into a locked, barred door. A dead end. She turned around and Stiles was right next to her

“You really don’t know do you?” He laughed “You actually think that you’re crazy, that this is all a medical condition, that you’re sick! You have no idea what you are!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about” Lydia sobbed

“You’re a banshee. An omen of death. And you can help me feed”

“I don’t understand. What’s happening?” Lydia cried

“You can attract people here, other supernatural beings, with your scream. They’ll here and they’ll come find you and then the fun begins”

“Whatever you thinks’ going to happen it’s not. You’re insane! And I’m not doing anything for you”

The nogitsune smirked “Really? Because I don’t think it’ll be particularly hard to make you scream” He pulled a dagger from his pocket and slowly stepped towards her.

Lydia couldn’t help it; she took a breath and screamed.

* * *

“What the hell” Scott shot up from where he’d fallen asleep on the couch

“Oh you finally woke up. We were supposed to be studying you know?” Allison smirked sitting on the floor below him

“I just heard Lydia” Scott frowned

“What do you mean?”

“She screamed. The last time I heard her scream like this was Peter”

“Do you think there’s something wrong?” Allison asked concerned

“Yeah” Scott muttered “I think so. She’s still at Eichen House right? That’s where Stiles is. What if the nogitsune has hurt her?”

“We need to speak to the sheriff” Allison replied leaping up

* * *

The pair rushed to the sheriff’s station and ran into Stiles’ father’s office.

The sheriff looked up and frowned “Are you two okay?”

“You haven’t heard from Stiles have you?” Scott asked quickly

Stiles’ father sighed “I’ve just been informed that he and Lydia Martin have gone missing”

“Shit”

“What?” The sheriff pressed

“Scott heard Lydia scream. He thinks she’s in trouble” Allison explained

“You think that Stiles has done something?”

“Not Stiles. The nogitsune”

* * *

From that moment on the pack frantically searched to find Stiles and Lydia.

“Did the scream give any clue to where she was?” Kira’s mom asked Scott

“It echoed. Like she was in some sort of tunnels”

“Of course” She whispered “He’s gone back to where it started”

* * *

Lydia sat down, her back pressed against the bars. Stiles sat above her on a stair. “Stiles” She whispered

“I’m not Stiles” He growled

“Maybe not but you’re in Stiles’ body. That means that Stiles has to be in there somewhere”

“You’ll never reach him. Soon he’ll be dead and this body will be all mine”

“I think you’ve misjudged the connection that Stiles and I have. He’s always cared for me and there is something between us. I hadn’t seen it until he came to Eichen House. You may think that nobody can save him now but I can get to him, he’ll hear me” Lydia stopped addressing the nogitsune and closed her eyes “Stiles, I know you’re still in there. I know that whatever this is is killing you and that you’re weak right now. But you need to fight back or you will die, you have so much to live for Stiles, so many people who care about you; your dad, Scott, Allison, me. You have to muster every bit of strength left in you and fight back. You can get out of this Stiles, just fight back. Please. Please fight back”

Lydia opened her eyes and saw the body fall to the floor and started choking. The next thing she saw was Stiles vomiting bandages, it that moment she realised she was right about the supernatural side because what was happening to Stiles wasn’t humanly possible, and before she knew it there was a body emerging from the pile. He fought his way out and looked at Lydia.

“Stiles is that you?” She whispered

“Yes. What happened… oh God”

Lydia looked up and saw that the other Stiles was gone. She didn’t have time to worry about that, she helped Stiles up and immediately saw that the creature was right, Stiles was dying. She tried to support his weak body and get them out of there.


	4. Chapter 4

Immediately upon arriving at the camp the pack were confronted by the oni, with the nogitsune Stiles behind them. Allison, Kira, Isaac and Derek started fighting giving Scott the chance to enter the tunnels and find Lydia.

“Lydia?” He called

“Scott! Scott is that you?” She answered “Scott help!”

Scott ran through the tunnels and eventually found Lydia. She was sitting on the ground holding Stiles.

“That doesn’t make sense, is… is that Stiles?” Scott asked slowly

“Yes, he broke the grasp the nogitsune had on him but he’s still dying. I think to save him you have to kill the nogitsune”

Scott had no idea what Lydia had found out about the situation but it wasn’t the time for questions. “How can Stiles be here?”

“There are two of them now. Did you see the nogitsune then?” Scott nodded in response and Lydia’s heart skipped a beat as she realised what was happening “Who came with you? Scott, who else is here?!”

* * *

 

Scott and Lydia rushed to the exit, carrying Stiles between them. “I’ll get him out, we’re slowing you down” Lydia panted “You go help the others”

“Okay” Scott agreed and ran off.

Lydia continued supporting Stiles to the way out for about another 5 minutes before they eventually collapsed. “Stiles come on” She urged to the near lifeless body beside her “Keep fighting, we’ll be out soon okay, just stay with me”

Suddenly a searing pain rushed through Lydia’s body and she froze. The physical pain was bad but the emotional pain of knowing what had just happened was worse.

“Allison” She screamed until her throat was raw and eventually collapsed sobbing over unconscious Stiles.

* * *

 

Stiles awoke at the sheriff’s station. The nogitsune was dead. Allison had died killing it. He was sat next to Lydia who was sitting on a bench almost catatonic and took hold of her hand. Scott was talking to the sheriff. They were going to cover it up as a stabbing or something. But the facts remained the same; Allison was dead.

Lydia was grateful for the small gesture of Stiles taking her hand. For the first time in a while her head was completely silent. No noise at all just deathly silence. She couldn’t decide if it was worse or better than the screaming.

The silence allowed her to think. It enabled her to go through the events of that night over and over in her head, thinking what she could’ve done, how she could’ve saved her best friend. Allison had been there for her for the previous 6 months, she’d visited Lydia whenever she could (or whenever Lydia actually had visitor privileges which wasn’t very often) and she’d written to her, long letters that Lydia would read over and over, memorising each individual word. Allison was her best friend.

Lydia knew realistically that it wasn’t her fault, she knew realistically that there was nothing she could’ve done but she couldn’t help feeling guilty anyway.

The sound of people talking snapped Lydia out of her thoughts; she looked up and saw Brunski alongside three other orderlies enter the station and Lydia immediately nudged Stiles. “Stiles” she whispered and he looked up to see what she did.

“Well well well” Brunski sneered “If it isn’t our runaways”

The sheriff stepped out of the office “Your mandatory hold of 72 hours on Stiles is up, I have decided that he doesn’t require further treatment, my son is not going anywhere with you.”

“You may have the authority to keep your son here but you have nothing to do with the girl, Lydia is coming back with us” Brunski glared

Stiles stood up guarding Lydia who was now shaking “Dad, dad you can’t let them take her”

The sheriff looked at his son sadly “Stiles, there’s nothing I can do. They have every right to take Lydia back and there’s nothing I can legally do to prevent it”

“No!” Stiles exclaimed

“Mr Stilinski you need to move out of the way now”

Lydia looked up at Stiles “Please don’t let them take me back, Stiles please”

The sheriff gently but forcibly moved Stiles aside and two of the orderlies pulled Lydia up.

“No!” She cried desperately “Please no, don’t take me back there, please, Stiles, Stiles help me!”

The orderlies began to drag her towards the exit and Stiles watched sadly as she tried to fight against them. His sadness quickly turned to horror when he saw Brunski take out his stun gun.

“No!” He fought against his dad but the sheriff held him back. Brunski quickly shot Lydia in the stomach and she collapsed leaving one of the orderlies to catch her and carry her out, quivering in his arms “Lydia I love you!” Stiles yelled before Lydia was out of the door

It sounded like she tried to say something in response but it just came out as between a sob and a moan. And then they were gone.

* * *

 

“Take her straight to the closed ward” Brunski ordered once they’d transported Lydia back to Eichen House. Lydia had regained some of her strength but not enough to fight the orderlies, although the weakness she felt may have been due to emotional causes as well. But she could walk so the pair of orderlies marched her straight through the building. As she was taken through the building many familiar faces stopped to stare at her including Oliver with a bandage on his head and she scowled back at him. Not that it was really his fault but having someone to be mad at helped Lydia in the moment.

Soon they reached the closed ward and an orderly unlocked the door securing the restricted part of the building. The door was immediately locked once she was through, then the same with another door and then they reached what would be her room for now.

They shoved Lydia into the plain room with nothing but a bed and bathroom and locked the door behind her. Lydia walked over and sat on the bed, trying not to let the tears spill from her eyes. But no matter how she tried it didn’t take Lydia long to start sobbing hysterically.

* * *

 

After a week the sheriff was finally able to get Stiles in to see Lydia. It had been hard as she was still in the closed ward and had no visitor privileges but he managed to pull rank and say that the visit was for police business. It also helped that it was Brunski’s day off.

An orderly led Stiles and the sheriff through the locked doors into the closed ward. It was a long corridor with rooms that had secure metal doors and a barred window for the orderlies to see through. There were chairs for the orderlies that had to guard the ward but other than that it was empty. As they got to the door of Lydia’s room they stopped.

“You have 20 minutes maximum. Any signs of a problem and I will be straight in and you will be required to leave.” He unlocked the door. Stiles and the sheriff walked in to the room to see Lydia in the 5 point restraint on the bed.

“Does she have to be strapped down?” The sheriff frowned

“The patient resisted treatment this morning and we were forced to restrain her. We aren’t satisfied that she’s stable enough to take them off so this is in everyone’s best interests”

“Not hers” Stiles muttered as the orderly closed and locked the door behind them. The two walked over to where Lydia could see them and Stiles pulled up a hard, metal chair and sat beside the bed. She was pale and her eyes were red. She had tears running down her face as she couldn’t wipe them.

“Please don’t look at me” Lydia said her voice hoarse and croaky “I look pathetic”

“You still look beautiful to me” Stiles replied wiping away her tears

“How did you get to see me?” Lydia asked

“My dad pulled some strings, making up stuff about an investigation” He replied turning his head to see his dad standing behind him. Lydia turned her head and flicked her eyes across to see the sheriff.

“Hey Lydia” He said gently “I know you two would rather be alone but they wouldn’t let Stiles in without me”

“That’s okay” Lydia replied “Thank you for making this happen. I didn’t think I’d see anyone from outside of here for a long time” her voice becoming raspier and raspier as she spoke.

“Do you want some water?” The sheriff asked sympathetically “You throat sounds sore”

“Yes please”

The sheriff banged on the door. The orderly looked through the bars. “Can I get a drink?” The sheriff asked

“This isn’t room service” The man rolled his eyes but went off to get a drink anyway.

“So how are you doing?” Stiles asked

“Great!” Lydia replied sarcastically “I’m on cloud nine”

“Sorry. Stupid question” “They’ve decided to give me a depot as medication instead of pills. I used to pretend to swallow the pills and then get rid of them when people weren’t looking because the meds they give me make me sick. But I can’t do that with the depot so I fought back. It’s pretty obvious what happened after then” She croaked out “How are you?”

“Better” Stiles nodded “Since the nogitsune died I’ve been a lot better. But everyone’s struggling with what happened”

Lydia broke eye contact with Stiles. He gently took her hand “I’m sorry about what happened to Allison; it’s hard for all of us but it must be especially hard for you, Scott and Isaac”

“Every time I fall asleep I see it happen, like I’m standing there watching it. It doesn’t even make sense; I wasn’t there, I was in the tunnels with you. But it was like I felt it. I wake up screaming every morning. That’s why my throat’s so raw. I scream until I can’t anymore or they sedate me. I can’t control it”

Stiles squeezed her hand “I’m sorry Lydia. It’ll get easier”

Lydia smiled faintly at him in response and then jumped slightly as the door unlocked.

“Here’s your water” The orderly grunted handing the sheriff a plastic cup. “Wrap it up; your time’s nearly done”

“Give us five minutes” The sheriff asked and the orderly nodded and shut the door again. The sheriff handed the cup to Stiles. Stiles brought the cup to Lydia’s mouth, tilting it enough so that she could drink but not so it would spill over her.

“Thank you” Lydia whispered when she was done and Stiles took her hand back. “What you said… at the station… did you mean it?”

Stiles blushed “You mean… yeah. Of course I meant it Lyds”

Lydia smiled “Thanks Stiles” She then yawned

“Are you tired? Do you want us to leave?” Stiles asked

“No, can you stay while I fall asleep? I feel safer with you here”

“If you can fall asleep in under 5 minutes” The sheriff stated “Sorry, no more interrupting”

Lydia smiled and closed her eyes. Stiles kept one of his hands in hers and used the other to stroke her forehead, pushing her loose hair out of the way. Her body relaxed from his touch. Stiles looked at her; he could just look at her, study her face, forever. Her skin looked just like porcelain. He looked down and noticed red marks around her wrists where she’d tried to free herself. There were bruises down her arms from where Stiles assumed she’d been held by the orderlies. As well as the scar from where she’d cut herself. He’d probably seen it when they were in the basement but he wasn’t really concentrating on that then. But the T shirt she was wearing left it exposed. Stiles lent down and delicately kissed her wrist.

“Please don’t ever do anything like that again” Stiles whispered. He wished more than anything he could get her out of this place. But he knew he couldn’t.

The guy came back into the room “Your time is up”

Stiles gently let go of Lydia’s hand, trying not to wake her up. His dad patted him on the shoulder and they left the plain, miserable room. Lydia kept her eyes closed, not wanting them to know that she was still awake. But she couldn’t help a tear from falling out as she heard the door close.


	5. Chapter 5

After another long week Lydia was finally allowed back in the general ward. Basically because she was so drugged up she didn’t have the energy to do anything. She spent the first morning of the slightly more freedom she’d been allowed on the couch in the day room.

“Hey Lydia” Lydia turned to see that her friend Amber had sat down next to her “How’re you doing?”

Lydia grunted in response.

“I’m sorry about everything that happened” She said softly. Everyone in Eichen House knew parts of what’d happened when Stiles and Lydia were gone. Well they knew that there was some sort of fight and their friend was killed.

Lydia didn’t reply. Amber sighed “Come on we’re going to be late for lunch”. Lydia didn’t move, she just continued staring ahead. “Lydia you’ve only just got out of the closed ward, if you don’t follow the program you’ll be back there before you know it.”

“I don’t care” Lydia replied numbly

“Well I do and if you don’t get your dumb ass in that food hall in five seconds then I will not be responsible for my actions”

“Just leave me alone” Lydia glared half heartedly

“No” Amber responded firmly

“Why?”

“Because you’re my friend and I’m not going to sit here and watch you drown”

For a second it wasn’t Amber speaking to her anymore; it was Allison. She blinked and the girl sitting next to her had morphed back to one of the few friends she had in Eichen House. Lydia sighed and rolled her eyes “Fine”

* * *

The girls walked to the food hall and got some lunch. Lydia picked at hers not really feeling like eating. She didn’t feel like doing anything except sleeping; she felt like a zombie. Lydia wasn’t sure if it was the mind numbing meds or if it was her way of grieving Allison. It was probably a bit of both; Allison’s death made her so low she didn’t want to do anything and the meds made her so sedated that she physically felt like she couldn’t do anything.

Lydia allowed Amber to drag her to wherever she was supposed to be and just half-heartedly did what she was supposed to to get her through the day. But it still all felt pointless; she just couldn’t be bothered to fight anymore.

* * *

Stiles couldn’t stop thinking about Lydia. He hated leaving her in that place. It was all his fault; he knew the nogitsune had control but Stiles couldn’t help blaming himself.

He had barely spoken to Scott; Stiles couldn’t even look him in the eye. Allison was dead all because he was weak enough to let the nogitsune in.

 _“But if you hadn’t; Lydia would be dead instead”_ Stiles’ thoughts nagged. He sighed, he was glad Lydia was unconscious during the stuff that happened with the nogitsune in the basement; she would never forgive him if she knew what happened.

But that was unfair. Stiles knew he never really had a choice; he knew awful things would happen by letting the nogitsune in but he couldn’t sit there and watch Oliver drill into Lydia’s scull. He couldn’t know Allison would die. And even if he did how could he have chosen between his friends?

His mobile rang; jolting Stiles out of his thoughts. The caller id said it was Scott. Stiles nervously inhaled and swiped to answer “Hey Scott”

“Hi Stiles, sorry I’ve taken so long to call… are you feeling better?”

“I’m a lot better thanks. No, it’s okay. I would’ve called you but I wanted to give you space and things felt weird because of what happened… because of what I did…”

“It wasn’t your fault Stiles” Scott said softly “No one blames you; it wasn’t you”

“I just feel like I should’ve done something…”

“Stiles we tried everything. Don’t beat yourself up about it”

Stiles faintly smiled “How are you doing Scott?” There was a silence for a while “Sorry” Stiles muttered “Stupid question”

“It’s okay. It’s actually kind of why I called. Allison’s funeral is next Wednesday; 11:30am”

“Thanks for letting me know, me and dad will be there. Has anyone told Lydia?”

“They wouldn’t let me talk to her” Scott sighed

“Okay, my dad might be able to pull some strings” Stiles suggested

“Yeah alright. I’ve got to go but I’ll see you soon okay”

“Bye” Stiles hung up and walked downstairs to find his dad on the couch “Dad would you be allowed to contact Lydia?” he asked his father

“It depends, why?”

“Allison’s funeral is on Wednesday and they won’t let Scott talk to her. If no one talks to her she’ll miss it”

“Alright, I’ll ring them” The sheriff agreed

* * *

“Lydia” She turned around and saw a nurse she liked called Katie beaconing to her. Lydia walked over “We’ve just had a call, the funeral of your friend Allison is on Wednesday, do you want to go?”

Lydia slowly nodded

“Okay, well your doctor is fine with it, as is your mom; she’s going to drop a dress off for you. And… unfortunately you have to be escorted by an orderly. I’m sorry, I know it’ll make it even harder but it is policy” Katie explained sympathetically

“Who’s escorting me then?” Lydia asked

“Brunski”

 _“Great”_ Lydia sighed inaudibly

* * *

Wednesday morning Stiles arrived at the church in his black suit. He looked around to see an array of familiar faces; friends, teachers and what he guessed must be some of Allison’s family. Not that there were a lot left. He spotted Scott and his mom over with Chris Argent. Scott met Stiles’ gaze and the two exchanged awkward nods.

Stiles broke eye contact and looked around, trying to find Lydia amongst the crowd. He couldn’t spot her for a while until he finally saw her walk into the church with her mom and Brunski. Stiles immediately raced over.

“We’re all sitting at the front. Lydia was Allison’s best friend so she should sit with us right? Come on Lyds” Stiles hurried her away before either of the adults had a chance to protest. Stiles and Lydia took seats beside Scott.

Stiles couldn’t think of anything to say to her so he just gently took Lydia’s hand in his own. Her hands were cold and she seemed grateful of the warmth that Stiles’ hands offered. She looked sick, Stiles thought. She was skinny, pale and shaky and she looked really drugged up. Her eyes had a slight glaze like she wasn’t completely there.

The service soon started. Lydia’s facial expression didn’t change but Stiles felt her gradually holding onto him tighter as the service went on. Half way through the service Scott broke into tears and Stiles felt Lydia tense up from trying not to cry as well. He gently squeezed her hand.

As people rose from their seats as the service finished Stiles tugged Lydia away into a room leading off the church.

“Thank you” Lydia whispered as Stiles shut the door behind them. Her words sounded slurred; probably from whatever medication they were giving her Stiles guessed.

“What for” He replied gently Lydia paused

“For just being there”

Stiles smiled softly “I’ve missed you. How’re you doing?”

“I’m alright. I’ve been sleeping a lot; I’ve been getting really tired. I don’t mind though, it’s better than being awake”

Stiles looked down sadly “I’m sorry I couldn’t get you out”

“It’s okay” Lydia responded “I knew you wouldn’t be able to”

“I could talk to your mom? She could get you home right?” Stiles suggested

“The staff convinced her that they’re doing what’s best for me. I’m not going home until staff think I’m better”

“We could just leave. We could run away; they can’t make you go back if they can’t find you”

Lydia raised her eyebrows “Now you’re the one that sounds crazy”

“You’re not crazy”

“I feel like I am”

Without warning Stiles embraced her in a hug. Lydia was surprised but hugged him back. She needed it. Stiles felt a dampness on his chest and realised she was crying but he just held her tighter.

She felt Stiles stroke her hair delicately. It was weird; no matter what was happening Lydia always felt safe with Stiles. She remembered a time when she was embarrassed to cry in front of him but now she was sobbing into his chest.

Eventually the sobs stopped and Lydia was able to calm herself down. She pulled away from Stiles and wiped her tears with her hands. “We should get back to where everyone else is; Brunski will notice I’ve gone”

Stiles nodded regretfully and the two went back into the main hall. “I’ll see you soon” Lydia said softly and quickly kissed him on the cheek. She then turned and returned to where her mom and Brunski were sitting. Stiles watched as Brunski roughly grabbed Lydia’s arm and pulled her in the direction of the exit.

“Is she okay?” Stiles turned to see Scott beside him

“No” Stiles sighed “But there’s nothing we can do about it”

* * *

By the time Lydia got back to the facility it was lunch time. She didn’t want to be around all those people and she wasn’t hungry anyway so she opted out and went up to her room instead. She didn’t have anything to do; every book she’d brought with her she’d read 100 times by this point and they weren’t allowed any electronic devices of their own so there was little to do inside her room. She reached under her bed to find the shoe box filled with letters. Nearly all of them were from Allison. She picked up one of them and began reading it.

_Dear Lydia,_

_I’m sorry you haven’t been allowed visitors for a while so I couldn’t see you; I really hope you’re okay. I miss you loads, hopefully I can come and see you soon._

_Everyone at school misses you; it’s not the same without you around. Nothing much has happened really, Coach is in a super good mood at the moment because the lacrosse team are winning and Stiles is taking advantage of that._

_Scott and I got back together; we’re taking it slow but both of us still feel something for each other so hopefully it might end up better this time._

_But other than that it’s all been a bit boring over here. We’re doing simultaneous equations in calculus and I have no idea how it works at all. It’s funny you’re probably still miles ahead of us in school work even though you haven’t been for a while. I asked some teachers if they wanted me to give you any work but they said you already knew it anyway._

_Well I hope you’re doing okay and I will come and see you as soon as I can. Love you Lyds._

_From Allison_

There were many other letters just like that. Lydia spent the following half an hour reading through them again and again, tracing Allison’s handwriting with her finger, reciting the words in her head until she broke down in tears.

It was so stupid, she knew that Allison was dead but it hadn’t seemed real until she saw the coffin. The image of Allison being stabbed replayed in her head over and over. Lydia still didn’t know how she’d imagined it with just the things that people had told her so clearly. She didn’t see it happen but it was like she had. And she sure as hell had felt it somehow. She wasn’t sure if it was normal; feeling the life drain out of someone that she couldn’t even know for certain was dying but she’d never had someone so close to her die before. Just something about it felt strange.


	6. Chapter 6

Lydia was in a trance like state wandering the corridors of Eichen House. Later she wouldn’t even remember it; she wouldn’t remember walking into her bedroom door over and over trying to leave, then picking the lock of her door, and then walking aimlessly down stairs and corridors. All she would remember was waking up outside a bedroom door on the other side of the building and screaming with all of the energy she could muster.

After that she remembered everything too clearly; she remembered running into the door trying to force it open, she remembered the orderlies running over and tackling her to the ground, she remembered trying to fight them off with all the strength she had all whilst still screaming manically and finally remembered the needle being injected into her flesh; causing her to fall silent.

* * *

 

Her vision was blurred as she first opened her eyes and it took a while for them to focus on her surroundings. When she could finally see clearly Lydia looked around the room she was in. She frowned not recognising it, there were cabinets and shelves containing bottles of medicine and she guessed she was in some sort of storage room. She was sitting upright against a post with her arms tethered behind her.

“Ah, I see you’re awake Miss Martin” A familiar voice taunted. Brunski. “It really is quite interesting. I would never have guessed you’d be so much like your grandmother”

Lydia frowned and blinked hard realising that her head was pounding “What are you talking about” She mumbled

“Lorraine Martin, I treated her when she was here too. I thought she was one of a kind, I never expected to come across another banshee again, let alone her own granddaughter being one”

“I don’t understand” Lydia said, tears starting to form in her eyes

“You… you don’t know do you?” Brunski replied shocked at first but soon turned back to smirking at her “You’re not crazy Lydia; you’re a banshee. I had my suspicions for a while; especially after you and Stilinski went missing but you confirmed it tonight. Do you even remember what happened?”

Lydia shook her head “I… I was screaming and someone sedated me”

“You got out of your room in the middle of the night, walked to the other side of the building and stood screaming outside the room of someone who at that exact time had killed himself” Brunski snarled

Lydia gasped “What’s happening?” Her voice shook and tears started to run down her face

Brunski moved closer to her “Shh, it’s okay, I’m going to help you”

“How?” Lydia sobbed

“I’m going to free you from this world” He pulled out a needle containing a transparent liquid

“What is that? What are you doing?” Lydia panicked

“It’s okay; it’ll all be over soon”

Lydia realised what was happening and pulled against the restraints that were trapping her. “Please, I don’t want to die!”

“It’s just nerves sweetheart. You know you don’t belong in this world, even you know it, after all you’ve tried what I’m about to do before”

“No stop!” Lydia yelled

“Will you just let me help you!” Brunski yelled in response and pushed the needle into her neck

“Stop” Lydia looked up to see Scott behind Brunski, his eyes glowing, his claws and fangs out “Withdraw the needle now”

Brunski looked up in horror seeing the werewolf for the first time but quickly regained his composure and laughed, moving to inject the fluid. However Scott was faster, he knocked the orderly back and withdrew the needle before Brunski had the chance to do anything.

“How did you know?” Lydia asked, tears still streaming down her face

“I heard you scream. I knew there was something wrong” Scott said gently unbuckling the leather restraints

“He called me something. A banshee. And the nogitsune called me it too…”

“I know, I’m sorry. It’s okay” Scott replied and slowly helped her up

“I don’t understand” Lydia sobbed “Never in all my time here have I felt so crazy”

“You’re not crazy. You’re like me” He said reassuringly “I’m sorry we didn’t see it before”

Lydia suddenly felt faint and nearly fell back but Scott caught her in his arms. “Can you take me home” She muttered

“Yeah Lydia, I’m going to take you home”

* * *

 

 Stiles was rudely awakened by a loud banging at his door. He looked at his bedside clock; it was 3:30am. He groaned aloud and walked down the stairs. Whoever it was it better be bloody important. He opened the door to see Scott standing there with Lydia, asleep, in his arms.

“Holy shit” He muttered and moved out of the way to let Scott in “What the hell happened?”

Scott set Lydia down on the couch and turned back to Stiles. “We were wrong Stiles. There’s nothing psychologically wrong with Lydia… well… there probably is now after all she’d been through… but the reasons why her mom sent her to Eichen House weren’t symptoms of an illness. We were wrong when we thought Peter’s bite didn’t affect her supernaturally. Lydia’s a banshee, the bite triggered her powers. She can predict death, she can sense suffering. She’s not schizophrenic; she hears voices and noises warning her”

“Seriously?” Stiles gasped “How did we not see it?”

“I don’t know” Scott shook his head “But Brunski did. He realised as she predicted a suicide and tried to kill her. He did the same to her grandmother; apparently she was a banshee too”

“We need to take her to a hospital!”

“I think she’s okay, my mom’s coming to check her over. I hope you don’t mind me bringing her here but it was cold and started raining and your house was closer.”

“It’s fine. I’m glad you brought her here” Stiles said and glanced over at Lydia as she started to stir. He walked over and knelt down beside her as she opened her eyes

“Stiles” She whispered and then looked around confused “What’s going… I was… Brunski…” She stammered

“I know, I know” Stiles said soothingly “You’re okay, you’re safe now”

“Stiles there’s something wrong with me. I somehow ended up outside some guys room at Eichen House who had just killed himself; I was screaming like I knew but I couldn’t have. And I’m sure what I felt when Allison died wasn’t normal. And remember that night when you came to Eichen House and I was screaming right before that man killed himself; it was like I felt what was happening” Lydia explained looking scared

“It’s okay, there’s nothing wrong with you Lydia. We understand that now. You remember when Peter bit you but you didn’t turn into a werewolf like you should’ve?” Lydia nodded “It sparked something else inside you, a different power. You’re something called a banshee; an omen of death, your grandmother was one too”

“And Brunski killed her because of it” Lydia said beginning to understand “then he tried to kill me too”

“Yeah” Stiles replied “I know it’s a lot to take in…”

“Did you know? That I had these powers?” She asked

“No” Stiles said apologetically

“The nogitsune knew… So you all just thought I was crazy?”

“That’s a harsh way to put it…” Scott said slowly

“I’m not blaming you” Lydia sighed “I started to believe I was crazy too. But… no one’s going to believe this. I’ll have to go back to that place and if it’s not an illness… I’ll never get better…”

“We are not going to let them take you back there!” Stiles replied determinedly

“There’s not much you can do…” She said queitly

After about half an hour Melissa McCall arrived. Scott and Stiles waited in the kitchen while Melissa checked Lydia over. When she was done she met the boys in the other room.

“How is she?” Stiles asked immediately

“She seems okay. Her blood pressure is a little high and whatever sedative they gave her was bloody strong but I don’t think there’s anything to be worried about. We should really get her to the hospital though” Melissa explained

“We can’t! The second they find out she’s there the staff at Eichen will be dragging her back to that prison.” Stiles exclaimed

“Look boys, the meds that they’ve had Lydia on are powerful, you can’t just stop them. You have to come off them gradually or it can cause serious health problems”

“Can… can’t you just provide them and wean her off them?” Scott asked carefully

“No” His mother shot him a stern look “I know you two want to help her; I don’t like seeing her like this either, but we’ve got to go about this properly, no hiding her away and stealing drugs. Scott; what sort of state did you leave Brunski in?”

“I don’t know. He was unconscious”

“Right, well we need to call the police right now before he comes up with some story and manages to turn the situation on Lydia. You can still see where the needle was injected which should be enough proof”

“I’ll call my dad” Stiles offered “He’ll be able to sort this quickly”

“Okay. Brunski was the orderly in charge of Lydia’s care right?” Melissa asked and the boys nodded “Once he’s arrested he won’t be a reputable source anymore. We will just need a psychiatrist to do an evaluation on Lydia to prove that she’s okay and she doesn’t need to be at Eichen House”

“But mom; Lydia’s powers make her appear… well… they make her seem crazy!” Scott replied frustrated “No psychiatrist will say she’s alright”

“No…” Stiles said slowly “I might know someone who can help”

* * *

 

 The sheriff set up a tribunal for Lydia once Brunski was arrested. They had to prove to a judge that Lydia was not a danger to herself or others and that Brunski was wrong for keeping her at Eichen House. They’d managed to get grounds to keep Lydia at Beacon Hills hospital temporarily instead of sending her back due to the fact that she was almost murdered there. Brunski had admitted it and now he looked like the crazy one. Lydia secretly hoped that he was institutionalised and everything he did to her happened to him.

It was a couple of weeks until the court date and during that time Melissa managed to wean Lydia off the medication they’d been forcing upon her. Stiles and Scott visited whenever they could and spent the rest of their time researching about banshees and trying to help the sheriff build a strong enough case that proved Lydia didn’t need to be institutionalised. As much as she wanted to believe it would work, Lydia tried not to get her hopes up. If she had to go back to Eichen House or somewhere else it would be even worse if she’d convinced herself she was going home.

The day of the tribunal came quickly and Lydia felt sick as Ms McCall helped her get ready that morning. Melissa noticed her shaking, stopped packing her stuff away and walked over to sit down next to Lydia.

“Hey” Melissa said softly “It’ll be okay”

“What if it’s not? What if… what if I’m not okay?”

“What do you mean?”

“What if being in Eichen House all that time has actually made me crazy? I don’t feel like myself; I feel like I’ve changed. I’m scared of everything; I’m scared of going back but I’m also scared of coming home. Just normal things; going out and facing people makes me feel faint. As well as the fact that I can’t control my powers and it hurts, having voices scream in my head all the time hurts. There were times where I actually wanted to be sedated because I couldn’t take it.”

“That doesn’t make you crazy Lydia; that makes you human. You’ve been through a lot but things are going to get better now” Melissa squeezed her hand reassuringly


	7. Chapter 7

Lydia sat outside the court room, bouncing her leg nervously.

“Lydia” Stiles whispered “It’s going to be alright”

“I wish people would stop saying that” Lydia snapped

“Why?”

“Because what if it’s not”

“Lydia…” Stiles started

“Please just stop” She said bluntly. The pair sat in silence for a few minutes until Lydia sighed “I’m sorry. I know you’re just trying to help. I just can’t go in there thinking when I leave I’ll be going home because if I’m not…”

“I won’t let them take you back. We will break in there and rescue you okay? We will fight like we should’ve done all along!” Stiles exclaimed

Lydia laughed softly “Stiles I love you” she blurted. The words she’d just said sunk in and her smile faded into an almost startled expression. Stiles was staring back at her in shock.

“Wha…”

“Hey guys” Scott interrupted walking over. He frowned confused as he noticed them staring at each other “What’s going on?”

“Nothing” Stiles said quickly “They should be starting soon right?”

“Yeah” Scott replied still looking confused as to what he interrupted “Do you want me to…”

“Mom?” Lydia said under her breath and the boys looked over to see Natalie Martin walking over. Lydia stood up and stepped closer to her nervously but her mom got closer and tightly embraced her

“Lydia, I’m so sorry! Are you okay?” She sobbed softly

“I’m alright mom, its okay” Lydia said surprised “Why didn’t you come and see me? You were informed about what happened right?”

“Yes of course, I just… I didn’t know if you’d want to see me. Someone tried to kill you in the place I forced you in. It hurt me seeing you ill but if I’d come more I might have been able to prevent what happened. But I just left you there, alone with that monster”

“You didn’t know! It’s not your fault”

“I let you down Lydia, I’m sorry. I was scared you’d end up killing yourself like your grandmother and I guess I detached myself to avoid the pain. But I realise now; if you had died then not seeing you would’ve made everything worse. I love you Lydia! I hope one day you’ll be able to forgive me” Natalie cried

“Mom; I forgive you. I love you too” Lydia replied her eyes watering. Lydia held her mom, allowing her to cry against her and Scott moved closer to Stiles.

“What was going on with you and Lydia when I came in?” He muttered so only Stiles could hear him

“She said she loved me” He whispered “I don’t think she even thought about it, she just said it”

“Stiles that’s great!”

“She probably meant it in a friendly way…”

“No… I’ve seen the way she looks at you. She trusts you more than anyone. I doubt she even knew how she felt about you. Ever since you went in that place you two have been closer than ever”

“Yeah well…” Stiles smiled slightly remembering that night. Well the good part; before the nogitsune took over.

Scott frowned “Did something happen between you two?”

“You could say that…”

Scott’s eyes widened “Holy…”

“Can everyone here for the tribunal for Lydia Martin enter the court room please?” A smart looking lady opened one of the doors and called the group in. Lydia found herself back next to Stiles and took his hand shakily as they entered the room. Stiles stroked it with his hand comfortingly.

The judge went through some formalities before calling for a psych evaluation; like they knew he would. They already had this covered. The sheriff had enough power to appoint a psychiatrist and there was only one psychiatrist in Beacon Hills who could actually help Lydia. Marin Morrell.

After she’d interviewed Lydia casting aside all supernatural occurrences, Ms Morrell went in with the judge to privately give her testimony. If she agreed that Lydia was in an acceptable state to be discharged then that was it, if not Lydia would be going back to Eichen House with the option to appeal. It only took half an hour until the judge had made a decision.

“I see no need for Miss Martin to remain in hospital” The judge decided leading everyone to give a sigh of relief “However I would like her to continue sessions with Ms Morrell”

Lydia agreed and the case was closed. The second they stepped out of the court room Lydia hugged Stiles tightly. “Thank you” She whispered “I was wrong; you did keep your promise”

* * *

It was weird being home. Her mom hadn’t changed anything in her room; it was exactly how it was when she left apart from the stain where she’d thrown up that night had been cleaned. Lydia vowed to chuck out all painkillers and alcohol from her room; there had to be a better way to deal with the voices. Scott and Stiles were trying to help her but she still had no idea how to control her powers and that scared her a little. But at least she knew what was happening now.

Stiles had followed her back to her house and offered to help her unpack. Well that was his excuse; Lydia knew why he was actually there but she didn’t know how to explain it herself. She hadn’t realised her feelings towards him had changed until that moment when she really had to think about it. She watched Stiles milling around her room awkwardly and realised that he wasn’t going to bring it up without being prompted.

“Are you not going to ask me?”

Stiles turned to face her “Ask you what..? I don’t know what you’re talking about… No questions here” He stammered

Lydia raised her eyebrows and he looked sheepishly back at her. Lydia sighed “I meant it okay; what I said. I didn’t realise before but I meant it”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. I… I love you Stiles” Stiles’ face lit up although he tried to hide it and look cool. Lydia smiled inwardly at his reaction “Could you stay with me tonight?” She asked slowly “I don’t want to be alone”

“Your moms here” Stiles pointed out

“Yeah I know… I just trust you more than anyone and it would make me feel better if you stayed… I’m scared” Lydia replied quietly

“Why are you scared? Everything’s alright now Lydia”

“I don’t know. I just don’t know if I can do this; be normal again. I’m not the same person I was when I was last in this room”

Stiles nodded “You’re going to be okay. But I’ll stay with you”

* * *

Eventually the pair settled down to sleep. Stiles offered to sleep on the chair but Lydia insisted he slept in the bed with her. They lay in silence for a few minutes, neither of them really feeling like sleeping, until Lydia spoke. “Stiles, after what happened to you and everything… how did you readjust to being normal again? Like how could you just live like a normal teenager again?”

Stiles turned in towards her “Believe me Lydia; the nogitsune may be gone but my life is still far from normal” He smirked

Lydia slowly nodded “How do you all cope with it? This whole supernatural world?”

“We cope with it together as a pack. We’re all there for each other, we all help each other. You’re not alone anymore Lydia, okay? We will help you figure this out”

* * *

Stiles awoke to hear Lydia sobbing in her sleep. Her forehead was sweaty, her face was a frown and her fists were clenched. “No… please no…” She pleaded

“Lydia?” Stiles shook her gently but it only seemed to make things worse as his contact seemed to make her start thrashing around. “Lydia!” He said louder but she was still trapped in her sleep. She started yelling and screaming, thrashing around to the point where Stiles thought she was going to fall from the bed so he quickly grabbed hold of her.

“Don’t touch me” She screamed semi-conscious trying to evade the hands holding her down. “Get off!” Her tone turned from fear to panic “Please I’ll be good! Don’t send me back to the closed ward, please!”

“Lydia, Lydia you’re home, you’re safe” Stiles yelled and Lydia finally realised what was happening

“Stiles?” She whispered shakily “I… I’m sorry”

“Shh it’s okay, it’s okay” Stiles wrapped his arms around her and held her as she sobbed into his chest “It’s okay, I’m here”

Natalie Martin stood outside the doorway to Lydia’s room, awoken by the screaming, but neither of the teenagers noticed her. She watched as Stiles held Lydia and calmed her down and Natalie smiled slightly and slipped out of their view. The psychiatrist; Marin Morrell, had warned her that Lydia may develop some PTSD after everything but from where she was Natalie wasn’t too worried about her daughter. She had Stiles. Stiles and Lydia just seemed to fit together and it was obvious that Stiles cared about Lydia far more than he cared about himself. And Natalie had never seen her daughter act like that with anyone else she’d known; with Stiles her walls came down, she was truly honest with him and she trusted him.

Lydia lay in Stiles’ arms, still holding onto him but not with the urgency she’d been clinging to him a few minutes before. She could feel him breathing on her and it was weirdly calming. Eventually she stopped shaking and for the first time in a long time Lydia truly believed that everything would be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has read, followed and left kudos on this stroy, it means so much to me! This was my first fanfiction on here and so I was trying to figure it all out but I hope this story turned out okay!


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